Blood Ties

Sword and Sorcery in the World of Darkness

On the way back to the main continent, there was a bit of a mishap with a roving island that left them stranded on a deserted island. After exploring the island it was quickly apparent that there really was no one else. There was however a large crater that had filled in with sediment over the years.

Using the crew, distengration powers, and determination they excavated the crater, which quickly was revealed to be a large dormant volcano. I failed to mention earlier that with the volcanoes that they had found on the islands off the eastern coast, that there was myterious arcane writing in rune form, that when written out would perform magic magic. There was simliar writings on this volcano. After getting far down into the volcano they ra into a mysterious force field.

After much deliberation and effort they managed to get through the shield further down into the volcano. There were different caves which seemed to resemble the different signers of the first contract. They found a myterious egg and another of the dragon lords, Telesthia.

After talking to the characters she brought them back to the main land while allowing the ship to return from whence it came. However since the island moved through space and time, no one is really sure whatever happened to that crew.

Our heroes went into the mountain that laid at the center of the desert. A large imposing moutain, rising from the desert floor like a pillar; solitary, tall, and majestic. Inside they faced many test in becoming the next Ahmut, and if not for a combined effort they surely would have perished.

The last test though was to kill the current Ahmut. They were instantly teleported to his place of residence across the ocean for to the northwest. He met with them explaining that he had no quarrel with them, but would not hesitate to kill them if that’s what it came to. They just wanted to know what was going on with his connection to the death of the archduke. He told them that he had kill the archduke, because one must tkill the current Ahmut to become the Ahmut.

He also told them a little bit about himself. Including that as Ahmut he was trying to restore magic to it’s rightful place.

With their knowledge of events complete and being unwilling to kill a creature with the same goals. So they bid him farewell and set off to sail back to the Kingdom. The Ahmut got them a ship and a skilled crew, to take them back.

On the request of Lord Nightmare the characters proceeded to commit genocide. It’s not a pretty word, and it’s definately not a pretty event however there was reason for it. At least that what all the fanatics say.

First, the Fish People were trying to invade the Kingdom. They had already created holes at several places in the walls and were going to continue to attack until each and everyone of them were dead.

Second, Lord Nightmare didn’t really like the heroes, and one in particular was a distant descendant of The Shining One. so he needed a little incentive not to devour our heroes where they stood.

Third, the Fish People were a weak willed people who came across Lord Nightmare while he still slumbered and were willing to offer their very lives to some other creature in exchange for nothing. They were worse then dogs, but with far more strength, cunning, and even the possibility of magic use.

Fourth, Lord Nightmare now had them completely under his control and he said he was going to kill them all anyways by having them attack the wall, so since they were all dead no matter what, wouldn’t it be better to have an ally of a powerful dragon.

In a small act of defiance though, they smuggled out the children to human towns. There were some that had been decimated by the giant worms, so they smuggled these cildren out to have them live with good people, hardy people, ones who would teach them not to throw their lives away just because a powerful creature told you too. Then they commited genocide. Every last adult male and female were killed where they stood.

After the children were all safely seen too, the heroes went back to see Crazy Achmed who told them stories of a mountain, Mountain Ahmut, where the high mage of the land was said to gain his power and reign supreme. It was here that the person who gave him the artifacts that he had in turn given to the archduke had gone. So it was with little rest after a very long journey that our heroes set off into a desert so large that even a dragon could wander it lost until it died.

The King’s hand has many tasks, and sometimes they span over many years, while sometimes they have three tasks that need to be accomplished within a day. Sometimes they are even tasked with the impossible. This is what they were trying to do when they met up with Crazy Achmed. While trying to track a mysterious figure (the one who murdered the archduke) they met up with Mr. Achmed who had sold items to the archduke not long before his death.

Unfortunately sometimes things really just are as they appear. Crazy Achmed was not some sinister genious who had some plot against the throne, but a creature of great power who had powerful artifacts and wasn’t quite right in the head. He travels about looking for items of great power and funds his journey’s by selling things, some of which he doesn’t even understand.

So our heroes set off south to accomplish another task which was of the upmost importance. Once again placing the murder of the archduke by the wayside.

They went to the very edge of the kingdom back to the wall and past. Looking into a disturbance that was leading a unknown race of humanoids to attack the wall. These so called Fish People were occasionally throwing themselves to die at the wall by the hundreds and sometimes thousands.

Our heroes investigated and founfd that an ancient dragon lived beneath these tunnels and the Fish People revered him as a god. The ancient dragon turned out to be Lord Nightmare. One of the seven dragon lords who signed the first contract. He hates The Shining One and all his ilk. He wishes to kill him and his entire bloodline.

Our heroes met up with the Jarl armed with the information that he had sought about what was happening to their souled members. The meeting went very well and the merry band left with a potential ally who saw them as curious, odd, and down right weird, but valiant and honest as well.

The characters then went about exploring the volcanoes. When they were unable to locate anything of value inside the volcanoes on the islands, they turned to the ocean seeking information that could be gleened from the depths including volcanoes that possibly sunk beneath the waves many years ago. They built an amazing contraption to dive the depths, however all this was for nought. In the end they went back to the king’s castle to report their resounding success about the repelling the invaders.

When our adventurers returned, they reported the information that they had, and tried finding the information to help the invaders from across the ocean. They also had to report back in to the Sergeant in charge of the murder of the Archduke. Everything went well in the interrogation. They attempted to contact another member of the Shadow Council. First they tried setting up a meeting with the Archduchess Erlissa Nadima using family connections to gain audience. However that was unfruitful, so they tried going to a ball next. This also seemed to be fruitless, but they were shortly thereafter contacted and had a meeting with the Shadow Council.

They survived the meeting and went back to the Island armed with the ability to give the invaders the information they needed. The invaders had come seeking only answers and once they had received them, they returned from whence they came.

After the mission had been completed they spent some time exploring the volcanoes and searching for the rest of the volcanoes, including some underwater exploration. Unfortunately their searches were unsuccessful and they had to return hom empty handed.

Our intrepid adventurers had a meeting with the duke on the island, who filled them in on what was going on. The enemy forces had more then double all their forces put together, and with how spread out they were, the enemy had been able to march unopposed, except for a few small skirmishes, about the land. Up to this point the enemy had conquered nearly a quarter of the island.

Our heroes went to the lands of the earl that was on the front lines now. Once they got there, they found that there was a note waiting for them. Asking them to meet the commander of the enemy forces under a flag of truce following the exact terms that the heroes had discussed asking him for.

After a little confusion they accepted and proceeded to meet with him the following day. Where much was discussed. Finally so they could exchange information in a more comfortable setting, he suggested that they discuss things at one of their camps. In the end everyone wound up going to his camp. There he told them of the troubles they were having and that he was going to conquer lands until he found someone who could give him the information he needed.

There was obviously a huge cultural difference and many misunderstandings were blatantly apparent. Not the least of which, is that even their conversation was a financial transaction, because knowledge is power, and you charge for weapons, so you abviously should for information as well. But in the end they came to an agreement. That they would try to get him the knowledge that he was after and in return they would agree to a more permanent sharing of knowledge.

They went to ask the archduke about sharing the information they had with this invader, bringing three of his shadowguard with them. On the way they were waylaid by a sea serpent. The serpent put up a valiant fight, trying to destroy the ship, but in the end he was killed by spears and swords, before he could harm the ship.

A convienent use of necromancy allowed a few of the group members to get back to the King’s Castle faster then anticipated. Once they arrived they were greeted by a other member’s of the King’s Hand who were to take them in for questioning about the death of the Archduke, who was last seen alive with them. Once the rest of the group got there, they were reunited at the King’s Castle.

Our wanderers traveled back up to the Duke’s lands to report their resounding success. They had managed to find his son, and the pixie was with child. The only down side was that his son did not wish to return. His son also recounted the story exactly as the witch did, so he grudingly let her live. After their business was concluded they returned to the lands of the king, to check back in and report of their resounding success to their superiors in the King’s Hand.

After they had reported on their success with the duke, and that the duke would no longer be overcharging for grain. So with their last assignment completed their superior officer told them there were some tasks that needed to be completed, but they could take some time to follow up on things that they had found that were important.

So they traveled back down to the far south meeting up again with Tarsus to look into the giant worms. After much searching, they found a giant underground tunnel that had a nest of fifteen worms. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, they left.

They traveled back to the north, to find out what needed to be done for the King’s Hand. It turned out that one of the Archduke’s had requested that they help him out with an important task.

The archduke was very secretive from the first moment they entered, and forced them all to sign a non-disclosure contract before he even explained the full details of their mission. Once he had explained what little he could, they all signed the contract. He then showed them that he was capable of destroying contracts, by destroying the contracts that they signed when they joined the King’s Hand. He went on to explain that he was recruiting them to find the first contract. That his goal and the goal of the Shadow Council was to destroy the first contract and return things to how they should be.

The King’s Hand had another important task for them, and set them overseas to try to stop an invasion. The barbarians of the north were attacking one of the islands. So the king started to gather 5,000 of his troops, and sent our wanderers ahead to help in any way they could.